on the road

Below is the poem entitled on the road which was written by poet
jan oskar
hansen. Please feel free to comment on this poem. However, please remember, PoetrySoup is a place of encouragement and growth.

on the road

On the Road.
The coach from Lisbon to Madrid took about eight hours
it left at eleven at night; it was full and I had the misfortune
sitting beside a huge, black Arab who sat talking to himself
when not talking into his mobile phone.
The bus arrived at six in the morning – one hour difference
between Portugal and Spain, but it felt much longer.
Madrid is famed as a city of art but the bus terminal is not
one of them… middle aged and old man were milling about
and looked like losers, like me, who had never been able to
make enough money to travel in style. Women all wore jeans,
high heels and expression less faces like robots that hadn´t
learned to smile. I had just time enough for a coffee before I
joined the next bus going to Alicante, south of Spain, through
a plain, an endless landscape, and lifeless I didn´t see a single
bull or a grazing cow, nor a sheep. Between Alicante and
the blue Mediterranean I was met with the unseemly sight of
thousand upon thousand of houses purpose built for tourism alone.
The town named La Playa had no centre, like peeling an onion, and
the official language seemed to be English. Of course there were
pubs where elderly singers sang tunes popular in the 1970th
In all fairness it must be said that the sun was shining and people
son the beach taking in the sun, as we live in a society where
a suntan is a sign of prosperity. Five days later I took the same
torturous journey back to Portugal; to a town that as a centre
and a history that is modest and lacks high drama.

Post Comments

Hi Jan -
I guess you're okay - maybe went to Spain.
sight of thousand upon thousand of houses purpose built for tourism alone. The town named La Playa had no centre, like peeling an onion
Oh the sights that yearned to be seen, at least by the untraveled like me. What was it Dorothy said - "there's no place.......
love,
Kathy